Kentucky Derby plagued by horse deaths and controversy.

The Kentucky Derby lost its early favorite, Forte, due to a bruised foot, reducing the field to 18 horses for the $3 million race for 3-year-olds. Two more horses died, making it seven in all, at Churchill Downs earlier Saturday, further blows to a sport already reeling from a series of doping suspensions and breakdowns. The string of horse deaths cast a pall for some Derby-goers on a mostly cloudy and warm day. New antidoping and medication rules enforced by a central governing body of the sport are scheduled to take effect May 22.